1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing device, and an information processing method and program product therefor. In particular, it relates to an information processing device using a bar code and RF-ID tag, and an information processing method and program product therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In this type of conventional information processing systems, a bar code indicating commodity (merchandise) information on a commodity (commercial product) is printed on the commodity so that the bar code will be read for sales management (for example, see JPA 2003-141295). This type of information processing systems include a system in which a bar code reader for reading barcodes is connected to a point of sales (POS) terminal.
On the other hand, a system using an IC chip, such as a Radio Frequency Identification (RF-ID) tag, a radio tag, or an IC tag, storing commodity information instead of a bar code has also been proposed and commercialized as one type of conventional information processing system.
A system using a bar code and an IC chip in combination has been further proposed as another type of conventional information processing system. In this case, the proposed methods include a method of storing the same information in the bar code and IC chip (see JPA 2002-123805, JPA 2002-049905 and JPA 2002-083278), a method of checking information using both the bar code and IC chip (see JPA 2001-291079 and JPA H11(1999)-096463), and a method of displaying both pieces of information (for example, code classification information) stored in the bar code and the IC chip, respectively (see JPA H05(1993)-040962).
The above-mentioned conventional information processing systems use a bar code and/or an IC chip as media for storing commodity information. However, these systems are not available for prize contests requiring the purchase of a book in which an advertisement (AD) for a prize contest is published, as a precondition for participating in the prize contests (that is, for “must-buy prize contests”).
In a system employing a “must-buy prize contest” method, when an advertisement for a prize contest, or prize ad, is published in a book, it is common practice for a participant to cut out a “prize entry ticket” printed on a page in the book and send a postcard with the prize entry ticket on it.
In addition, a system has also been proposed, which provides further information to consumers (users of cellular phones) by printing a bar code on advertising posters so that it can be read by cellular phones (portable telephones). However, a disadvantage arises that such a system cannot use information based on the location where each consumer sees each advertising poster.
To solve this disadvantage, it may be considered a method of including location information in the bar code. In this case, however, the bar code printed on the advertising posters must vary depending on the posted location, causing another disadvantage that the print costs increase.
The above-mentioned JPA 2002-123805, JPA 2002-049905, and JPA 2002-083278 teach a technique for visibly displaying, in a bar code, all or part of information recorded in an IC chip, a technique for recording all or part of data in the bar code into a non-contact data carrier as common data, and a technique for storing commodity management information (that is, the same information) in both the IC chip and bar code. These techniques, however, cannot be used in prize offering or advertisement systems including different kinds of information.
On the other hand, the above-mentioned JPA 2001-291079 and JPA H11(1999)-096463 teach a technique for double-checking the validity of IC chip information and bar code information, and a technique for checking printed information against IC chip information. Like in the above cases, these techniques cannot also be used in prize offering or advertisement systems including different kinds of information.